Metadata Best Practices - Revealing the hidden information in Microsoft Word documents

Mon, 12 Mar 2007 00:00:00 -0400

WHAT IS MICROSOT OFFICE METADATA? Metadata is often described as ˜data about data'. In other words it is ˜hidden' information in Microsoft Office files that provides details related to the creation, modification and current state of the file. In a legal matter electronic files are considered evidence. It would stand to reason that metadata in Microsoft Word files is important since it can explain the timeline of events and other details related to the evidence. All Microsoft Office documents contain metadata and there are dozens of other file types which also store valuable information about the file. These topics will be covered in a different article. The information in emails commonly referred to as ˜metadata' which includes ˜To:', ˜From:', ˜CC' etc. are actually database fields and aren't hidden. The purpose of this article is to deal with the hidden information contained in files related to Microsoft Office documents. One other category of metadata that is worth mentioning is file system metadata. File system metadata is different than Microsof Office metadata and is stored outside the document. **End Summary** Topics: Pinpoint Labs]]> MetaViewer]]> SafeCopy]]> Metadata]]> Metadata Tools]]> Microsoft Word]]> Office Metadata]]> ms Word Metadata]]>]]> About the Author: ]]> About the author: Jon Rowe is the President of Pinpoint Labs and a Certified Computer Examiner. To learn more about Pinpoint Labs click here Pinpoint Labs Website - Computer Forensics Software and Services Feel free to grab a unique version of this article from the Uber Pinpoint Labs article directory

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Metadata Best Practices - Revealing the hidden information in Microsoft Word documents